Make-A-Wish tour ends with hard helicopter landing

HONOLULU (AP) — An Illinois family of six making a Make-A-Wish trip to Maui is safe after a hard helicopter landing.

KHON-TV (http://bit.ly/1oGiMvo) reports the family from Bellevue was on a Sunshine Helicopters flight just before 10 a.m. Tuesday. The pilot lifted off from Kahului (kah-hoo-LOO'-ee) Airport for a tour of Waihee (WAY'-hee) Valley.

He says the pilot looked for a safe place to land and auto rotated, which means disengaging the engine from the main rotor system so the helicopter's rotor blades move just by the upward flow of air during descent.

The helicopter landed hard in 8 feet of elephant grass. Scott says that cushioned the landing.